Baby and Me and Kakashi
by AngieWhite
Summary: Iruka's three year old daughter suddenly shows up and Kakashi doesn't know how to handle the situation.
1. Chapter 1

Kakashi looked up from his book, irritated. Who would come up with the stupid idea to knock on the door just when he'd settled down to read? Grumbling slightly, he got up, book still in his hand, and opened. Outside stood a stern-looking, middle-aged woman. Sensing a second presence, Kakashi lowered his gaze and saw a little girl peeking out from behind the woman's leg. He flinched in surprise as he met her shy gaze. There was something very familiar about those brown eyes…

"… Umino Iruka?"

"What?"

Kakashi tore his gaze from the child to scrutinize the woman. She had her hair pulled back in a neat bun and there was a slightly official air about her, like a police officer or a social worker.

"Are you Umino Iruka?" she repeated.

"No."

The woman looked at Kakashi, as if expecting him to give her more information about Iruka's whereabouts, but the Copy-nin was starting to feel strangely annoyed with her and said nothing.

After a moment's silent battle the woman gave up.

"Does Umino-san live here?"

"Yes."

"May I talk to him?"

"No."

The woman sighed patiently.

"And why is that?"

"He's not in," answered Kakashi, trying hard to ignore those big, brown eyes that were still staring at him from their hiding place.

"When will he get home?"

Kakashi turned his head slowly to look at the clock hanging on the opposite wall. Not that he needed to; all shinobi have a built-in perception of time and he knew perfectly well that it was ten minutes until Iruka's class ended and that it would take him another ten to get to the apartment. But he wasn't going to make things easier than necessary for this woman.

"'bout… half an hour."

"Can I come in and wait for him?"

"Can I take a message for him?"

"I would rather like to talk to Umino-san myself."

There was a new outbreak of silent staring, but this time Kakashi gave up.

"Fine," he said and stepped aside to let them in.

She had some nerve to just burst in here and demand to see _his_ Iruka. And as if that wasn't enough she kept shooting disapproving looks at his book. And she'd brought that brat.

The woman settled herself by the kitchen table, placing the girl on a chair next to her. Kakashi sat down opposite them and resolutely opened his book, but the child kept drawing his attention.

"I didn't catch your name," he said after a while.

"Watanabe Ayaka," answered the woman.

Watanabe… Kakashi tried to remember if Iruka had ever mentioned anyone with that name, but nothing came to mind. He glanced at the girl over the top of the cover again. It wasn't just the eyes, he saw now, but the hair, the mouth, even the nose, though hers was still snub and childlike. It couldn't be a coincident. He _had_ to ask.

"And what's her name?"

"Umino-Yamashita Suzume."

Umino… but Iruka had never mentioned…

"So, is she Iruka's little cousin or something?"

"No," said Ayaka calmly, "she's his daughter."

Kakashi's insides seemed to freeze. Daughter? As in, child? As in the result of sex? As in Iruka and some woman? No way, no fucking way… He got up and walked over to the window, staring in the direction of the school house. Iruka had better hurry home, and he'd better have one hell of a good explanation to this.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Thanks a lot to everyone who wrote reviews for the first chapter! It's so great to know that people read my writings:D  
The title for this is supposed to be _Baby and Me... and Kakashi_, but for some reason the dots don't show.

--

As soon as Iruka entered the apartment, he sensed that something wasn't right. Two people were sitting at the kitchen table and Kakashi was standing by the window, his back against the room.

"You've got a visitor," he said, without turning around.

Iruka blinked. He'd never seen Kakashi angry. He had been sulking, grumpy, irritated and sore, but never angry. Looking at his slender back and cold posture now, Iruka realized with a surge of fear that this must be it, this must be Angry Kakashi.

To find the source of this anger, Iruka turned towards the two people at the table and nearly fell off the floor. Looking at the little girl was like looking at a picture of himself as a child. Except from the scar, everything was identical.

"Umino Iruka-san, I presume?" said the woman. "I am Watanabe Ayaka from Numashi Hospital."

"Um… hello," said Iruka, confused. He recognised the name Numashi, but he just couldn't place it right now.

"I believe you are familiar with one Yamashita Toriko?"

Iruka nodded. Toriko, of course, she'd lived in Numashi. But then…this girl…

"I regret to inform you that she passed away in our hospital one week ago."

"Oh." Iruka didn't know what to say, he had a distinct feeling that something was closing in on him. "That's… I'm sorry to hear that."

"She left a daughter behind," continued Ayaka, gesturing towards the girl, "and she named you the father. Is that correct?"

The whole room seemed to heave and Iruka sat heavily on one of the chairs.

"I… suppose it could be," he said weakly.

"Well, it seems likely. The girl is a spitting image of you. I will leave her in your care, then." Ayaka placed a small backpack and an envelope on the table. "Here are her belongings and a letter from Yamashita-san. Take good care of her."

She was almost at the door when Iruka could gather his wits enough to say something.

"But…wait! You can't just leave her here!"

Ayaka raised an eyebrow.

"No?"

"No, I… I don't know anything about her and-"

"Her name is Suzume, she's two years and seven months old. It's all in the letter."

"Does…"Iruka hesitated, "Doesn't she have any relatives or something who could take her?"

"As her father I believe you are her closest relative," said Ayaka curtly. "It was also her mother's wish that she be left with you. And if I understand the situation correctly," she cast a knowing look at Kakashi, who was still facing the window, "this is your only chance to form a complete family. You should be grateful."

With those words she stepped out of the door, leaving a ringing silence behind her. Iruka buried his face in his hands. This could not be happening.

"Well, that's a surprise," said Kakashi eventually, his voice a little louder than normal.

"Kakashi, I…"

"And who is this Toriko, if I may ask?"

"She lived in this little village called Numashi and I stayed there for a couple of months for a mission and… we ended up dating."

"And why haven't you told me about this?" Kakashi still didn't look at him.

"I didn't think it was… that important. I mean, it wasn't really anything serious, we both knew I wasn't going to stay there, it was just…"

"Sex?"

"Company," Iruka corrected him. "And, Kakashi, I swear, I had no idea she got pregnant."

"You should have thought of that before, there are plenty of ways to protect yourself."

"It's a little late for the safe sex talk now, isn't it?"

"One would have thought you'd be more responsible, though, you're always-"

"Kakashi, give me a break!" Iruka snapped. "I just found out I have a daughter and my ex-girlfriend is dead."

"Give _you_ a break?!" Kakashi finally turned away from the window and the Chuunin couldn't help but cowering a little under his glare. Was this what his enemies saw right before they died? "You cheated on me!"

Iruka fired up at once, straightening himself up as much as he could on the chair.

"Are you an idiot or are you just stupid?! The girl's almost three years old and we've been together for what, a year?"

"A year and nine months. And three weeks."

"See? I can't believe you would accused me of that."

"Sorry," Kakashi muttered and sat down at the table as well, lifting his hitai-ate and directing his Sharingan at the girl.

"What are you doing?" Iruka demanded.

"I'm just checking so it's not a trap."

"You're scaring her!"

Iruka sighed and turned to look at his daughter. They couldn't shout at each other now, the girl was probably having a hard enough time as it was. He ought to talk to her. But what do you say to a two year old daughter you only just found out about? Maybe he should introduce himself. But that would feel weird too.

"Hello," he said, managing a smile. "I'm… your daddy. It looks like you'll be living with me now, how do you like that?"

Suzume looked silently at him. Her eyes were a bit bigger and clearer than his own, Iruka noticed now, but the colour and shape was exactly the same.

"Maybe you're hungry?" he tried. "Would you like something to eat?"

She nodded slowly.

"Good, then I'll just…" he stopped halfway out of his chair and turned to his lover. "What do children of this age eat?"

Kakashi shrugged.

"No idea. Does it have teeth?" He leaned across the table and put a finger in the girl's mouth, opening it slightly. "Yep, it does."

"Kakashi! She's not a dog!" Scowling at the Copy-nin, Iruka stood up and went over to the refrigerator. "I'll make her a sandwich. Would you like a sandwich?" he added in a softer voice.

Suzume nodded again.

--

After having carefully finished a sandwich and a glass of milk, Suzume blinked sleepily.

"Ah, bedtime," said Iruka and after some hesitation he went over to her and held out his hand. "Come here, we'll see if we can find somewhere for you to sleep."

Suzume climbed out of the chair and took the proffered hand. Iruka flinched as he felt the warm fingers against his and for the first time something inside of him said softly 'This is my daughter. _My_ _child_.'

--

"She's asleep now."

Iruka crawled up in the sofa where Kakashi was already sitting, apparently still moping.

"Where'd you put her?" he asked grumpily.

"In our bed."

The Copy-nin tensed and looked at his lover.

"But where are we going to sleep?"

"There's room enough for the three of us." Iruka rubbed his temples. He could feel a head ache approaching. "There's really nowhere else to put her, and I don't think she should be alone too much in the beginning."

"So she's going to sleep between us? For, like, many nights?"

"Yes."

"But, but…" Kakashi sounded close to desperation, "_sex_!"

"I know." Iruka sighed. "We'll just have to bear with it for a while. I'll take her to Tsunade-sama tomorrow. If she's going to stay here she has to be registered and, well… we'll see what happens."

Kakashi folded his arms and stared with almost tear-filled eyes at the carpet. There was only so many unpleasant surprises a man could take in one day and the prospect of an unknown amount of time without sex was the final straw.

Iruka moved a little closer, put one arm around his lover's shoulders and leaned his forehead against his silvery hair.

"Kakashi, please…" he whispered, patting the Copy-nin's knee with his free hand. "It'll work out…just…be patient."

Kakashi grunted slightly and turned his head to kiss Iruka, but he didn't say anything.


	3. Chapter 3

Breakfast the following morning was a painful affair. Neither one of the men had been able to sleep much due to thoughts and worries about the future. Around midnight Suzume had woken and stared crying for her mother and Iruka had picked her up and paced the living room for hours until she'd finally gone back to sleep in his arms.

Now he was standing over the stove, making porridge, while Kakashi and Suzume sat at the table, apparently having some sort of staring contest. The Copy-nin had his arms folded defensively across his chest and even under the mask you could see his bottom lip pouting slightly. Suzume's clear, brown eyes answered his glare calmly over the head of a rather battered teddy bear Iruka had found in her bag the night before and which she had not let go of since then.

'_Damn that girl can stare,'_ Kakashi thought. _'Doesn't she ever blink?'_ He'd always assumed that Iruka had learned that patient look during his years as a teacher, but apparently it was genetic.

Genetic… because she was Iruka's child… Iruka's and some bitch's…

"She doesn't have your ears," he said loudly. "Did that Toriko have ears like that?"

Iruka closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

'_It's only natural for him to be jealous. He'll get over it. Just have patience.'_

"I don't remember what kind of ears Toriko-chan had. And Kakashi, please show some respect, the woman's deceased. Here you go." He placed a bowl of oatmeal porridge and a spoon in front of Suzume.

"Are you really expecting her to eat it like that?" said Kakashi sceptically.

Iruka braced himself.

'_Bear with him, he'll get over it in a little while. Just be patient. Patient.'_

"What's wrong with it?" ha asked calmly.

"No one wants to eat porridge without jam or sugar."

'_Now he cares if she gets jam! Kakashi, what is going on in your head?'_

"I just don't want to give her any bad habits."

Kakashi shrugged.

"It's your kid," he said and watched as Suzume carefully moved her teddy over to her left arm, grabbed the spoon with her free hand and started eating, unbothered by the absence of sweetener. "What's with the bear?"

"It was in the backpack. The letter said its name is Kuma-chan."

"That's original," sneered Kakashi.

This time Iruka's mental chanting of '_patience, patience'_ did not help.

"Kakashi, listen to yourself! You're mocking a _teddy bear_! Aren't you ashamed?! Would it be so damn hard to just try and act a little-" He cut himself of as he caught sight of Suzume, who'd stopped eating and was now staring wide-eyed at her father. Taking a deep breath, he managed to calm himself again. "I'm sorry. I'm not going to shout. But _please_ Kakashi, don't make this any harder than it already is."

"Fine." Kakashi got up. "I'll leave you two alone for some father-daughter bonding, then."

And before Iruka could say anything, he'd disappeared through the window.

--

Iruka could think of a lot of things he'd rather do than going to Tsunade to register his illegitimate child. Be eaten alive by piranhas, for example. Or get his back stabbed by Mizuki's giant shuriken again.

It wasn't that he thought the Hokage would be scandalized at the fact that Iruka had had pre-marital sex; it took more than that to shock a woman who'd grown up with Jiraiya and spent half of her life in gambling dens. No, it was the knowledge that if Tsunade was in The Mood, that is to say if she had a lot of paperwork and was desperate for an excuse to put it off, she had the cruelty, imagination and power to make this a thousand times worse for him.

--

"Well, well, well." Tsunade leaned back in her chair, an unreadable expression in her brown eyes.

Iruka glanced nervously at the big piles of paper covering her desk.

"That's some scandal we've got ourselves here, isn't it Iruka-sensei?"

"I don't think so, Tsunade-sama," answered the teacher softly.

"Not? But what will your pupils say? And their parents? A teacher is supposed to set an example of good morals and proper behaviour."

"I'm sure they'll understand." Iruka tried to avoid meeting her gaze, knowing that if she saw his insecurity, she would show no mercy.

Tsunade was feared, by both her enemies and subjects, not only because she was one of the powerful Legendary Sannin, and with a terrible temper to boot, but also, because of her cruel sense of humour. She was of the opinion that "if no one suffers, it's no fun". And when she was bored, she was downright sadistic.

"Do you want me to do a paternity test?"

"What?"

"A paternity test. To make sure you're really her father." Tsunade's face was serious, but her voice was thick with irony. Just one look at Suzume would be enough to erase all doubts concerning the fatherhood.

"No thank you, I don't think that'd be necessary."

"As you wish." There was an evil gleam in the Hokage's eyes. "There is something else I've been meaning to discuss with you, Iruka-sensei. Concerning the Academy."

Iruka waited silently for her to go on. He was sure that this sudden change of subject did not mean that he was out of harm's way.

"I have discovered a big flaw in the curriculum." Tsunade made an artistic pause, allowing the tension to grow. "As it is now, Konoha Academy has no sexual education." She paused again and smirked inwardly. She could almost see the Chuunin's heart sink behind that green vest. Ah, this was why Iruka was one of her favourite victims; all his emotions were clearly visible in his face for anyone to enjoy. Putting on her most authoritative expression, she continued.

"In present time most of the students get their information on the subject from Jiraiya's books. Bringing Suzume here to school will give you a perfect opportunity to explain to them all what really happens when a child is made. I'm sure you could provide a much sounder view on the matter than Jiraiya. As Hokage I will of course be supervising the first lesson to see how it works out."

'_Great.'_ Teaching sex ed would be embarrassing, especially since he'd have a living proof with him that he himself had done all of the things he talked about, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Doing it with a smirking Tsunade sitting in a corner, however… _'Someone, please save me.'_

As an answer to his silent prayer, Shizune spoke up.

"Tsunade-sama, aren't you forgetting something? Iruka-sensei lives with Hatake Kakashi. To have him teach sexual education would be almost the same thing as letting the students read Jiraiya's books."

Tsunade frowned.

"That's true. Well," she shrugged "I guess I'll have to hire someone else for that task, then."

Iruka didn't know whether he should feel relieved that he'd been let off the hook so easily, or insulted at the fact that they seemed to think that he'd learned all he knew about sex from Kakashi.

"Back to the original topic, then" Tsunade continued, still determined to get some first-class entertainment out of this. "You will have to hold a parent teacher meeting, of course, to explain everything about Suzume. As Hokage I will have to supervise the meeting to make sure-"

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama," Shizune interrupted again. "_As Hokage_, I think you have more important things to do than attend parents meetings. The documents that arrived from Stone Country a week ago, for instance." She tapped a fat pile of papers that was lying on the desk.

'_Thank you, Shizune,'_ Iruka thought. _'I'll never forget this.' _Once again, the prospect of explaining everything to the parents, which was scary enough in itself, would be a thousand times worse with Tsunade in the room.

The Sannin looked disgruntled, but apparently she couldn't come up with any protest, so she just sighed and said:

"We will have to do a health- check on her, at least. Or am I too busy as Hokage to do that too?"

"As a matter of fact, you are," said Shizune dryly. "We have completely competent doctors at the hospital to take care of that."

"But, we can't exclude the fact that she might be an enemy trap," Tsunade tried. "Maybe it's best if I-"

"Kakashi has already checked her with the Sharingan," said Iruka quickly.

The Hokage looked angrily at him. Wasn't she going to get _anything_ out of this?

"Good," said Shizune decisively. "Iruka-sensei, if you hurry you'll have time to stop by the hospital before school starts. Just give them this form and Tsunade-sama and I will take care of the rest of the paperwork."

Iruka took the paper, bowed and hurried out of the room, casting one last, grateful look at Shizune.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thanks again to everyone who's taken time to review the story! I really appreciate it, it's so encouraging. Please, keep it up:D

--

The day had gone better than expected. The results of the health check had been positive, he'd gotten plenty of advice on how to raise a child and a reassurance that the fact that Suzume had not yet said one word was probably just because she was shy in the beginning and still a bit shocked from loosing her mother, but nothing to worry about. His students had been nothing but happy to meet Iruka-sensei's baby and had not come with any awkward questions.

Suzume herself seemed to be doing fairly well too, considering all the new people and places she was confronted with. She kept mostly close to her father, whether it was because some mysterious ties of blood told her she'd be safe there, or simply because he was the only one who seemed relatively calm and normal, Iruka did not know. But since he was rapidly becoming more and more fond of the girl, he was completely okay with it. So, yes, it had been a rather good day.

That is, until they got home. Kakashi was already sitting at the kitchen table, reading (although his book was upside down) and looking so gloomy Iruka was surprised there wasn't a big thunder cloud hanging over him. Feeling the happiness drain away, Iruka still managed a rather cheerful smile. The trick with Kakashi was to make him forget that he was angry and lure him into talking again.

"Hi love, are you home already?"

"Obviously."

Iruka frowned. He could understand if Kakashi was upset, but there was no need to be rude. Well, he wasn't going to start a fight in front of Suzume again, so he'd just have to bear with it.

"So how was your day?"

The Copy-nin shrugged.

"Did you train with you t-" Iruka cut himself off, clapping a hand against his forehead. "Your team! Naruto!" he groaned.

"What about him?" asked Kakashi, flapping a page in his book.

"I have to tell him. He'll be so angry if he hears it from someone other than me. Or did you already tell them?"

"Why should I?"

Iruka could think of at least a hundred reasons to why Kakashi should have told his Genin team that he'd gotten a stepdaughter, but he did not have the energy to argue.

"I'll have to talk to him." He glanced at his daughter. "I've been dragging Suzume around so much today, she's probably tired… You don't think you could…?"

"Forget it."

"But Kakashi!"

"It's Naruto you're going to talk to! He won't understand unless you show him."

"Fine."

Much as he hated to admit it, there was some truth in Kakashi's statement and anyway it would be cruel to Suzume to leave her with him when he was like this. But Iruka couldn't help but thinking that if Kakashi just spend some time with her, he would start to like her. There was no way he could _not_ like her; she was one of the most adorable children Iruka had ever met. Enduring Kakashi, Tsunade, doctors and an abundance of curious students, all in one day, without even a single frown; not many kids would manage that.

"Looks like we're off again, Suzume," he said, wondering if he could label this new feeling as 'fatherly pride'.

--

Not surprisingly, Iruka found Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, where he'd just ordered his first bowl.

"Iruka-sensei!" The boy beamed as his former teacher sat down next to him. "Have you come to treat me- Eeeh? Why do you have a mini-clone?" He bent down and squinted at the girl whom Iruka had just lifted onto his lap.

"It's not a mini-clone, Naruto," said Iruka awkwardly. "It's… Suzume."

"But she looks just like you!"

"Yes. That's because she's my daughter. I'm her daddy."

"Eeeh?!" Naruto stared even more. "But Iruka-sensei, I didn't know you had a kid."

"Neither did I, actually." Iruka grinned and scratched the back of his head. "She came to me yesterday. Say hello to Naruto, Suzume."

Suzume squirmed a bit and buried her face in the front of her father's vest.

"She's a bit shy," said Iruka apologetically and stroke her back soothingly. "And she's met so many new people today."

"How long is she going to stay?"

"Until she's grown up, I suppose."

The teacher watched anxiously as a slight crease formed on Naruto's brow. Was he going to be as jealous as Kakashi? The boy picked up his chopsticks and stirred his ramen thoughtfully.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei?" he said, glancing sideways at his mentor.

"Yes?"

"Is she going to be with us every time we have ramen?"

"No," Iruka smiled and ruffled the boy's blond hair. "This'll still be our thing."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Allright!" Naruto beamed again and swallowed his ramen in one gulp. "Seconds please!" He called, waving his empty bowl. "It's Iruka-sensei's treat!"

With a relieved laugh, Iruka ordered ramen for himself and Suzume as well, grateful that Naruto was so much less complicated than Kakashi.

But as the second bowl was placed before the boy, he went back to his thoughtful mode again. Iruka waited patiently for him to speak.

Eventually he looked up again.

"Iruka-sensei, if you're her daddy… is Kakashi-sensei her mommy?"

Iruka-hesitated. Surely Naruto must know at least the basics of child-making? He'd trained with Jiraiya, he _had_ to know. But then again, maybe Jiraiya didn't focus on the conceiving part of the procedure. Well, this was neither the time nor place to talk abut that.

"No, Kakashi-sensei is not her mommy." He glanced quickly at Suzume and leaned closer to Naruto, saying in a low voice: "Her mommy's dead."

"Oh." The boy ate his ramen quietly for a while, before speaking up again. "Is that why Kakashi-sensei was acting all weird today? Because he wants to be her mommy?"

Iruka hadn't even thought about that possibility. He'd sort of assumed that Kakashi's jealousy had been aimed solely at Toriko and Suzume, as rivals of Iruka's attention, but maybe Naruto had a point. They had both long since accepted that they would never be parents, and they'd been fine with that. But now Iruka had something Kakashi could never get. And even if Kakashi would adopt Suzume and they'd raise her together, the fact that she was Iruka's would always be there in the background. That had to be painful.

Naruto must have seen the troubled expression on his mentor's face, because he straightened himself up and patted Iruka on the arm.

"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei. Kakashi-sensei's a jerk, but he's okay. And if he's troubling you, just tell, me and I'll beat some sense into him."

Iruka laughed.

"It's a good thing I have you, Naruto."


	5. Chapter 5

Kakashi left home early the following morning, after yet another sleepless night. Iruka had made a separate bed for Suzume on the floor, but after a couple of hours she'd crawled up next to her father and fallen asleep there. Kakashi had then demonstratively grabbed his pillow and blanket and gone to sleep on the sofa.

Iruka was angry with him, he could tell by the tense shoulders and barely visible frown line between his eyebrows.

"Well, he should have thought of that before he slept with _Toriko_ from _Numashi_." Kakashi muttered to himself as he snuck through the village, keeping away from the main roads to avoid meeting anyone.

If he knew Iruka right, and he was pretty sure he did, that angry frown would soon turn into a resolute We-Need-To-Talk-This-Over face and in a way, that was even worse.

Kakashi wasn't a big fan of talking about feelings. In fact, he wasn't a big fan of feelings at all. He had them, and he liked some of them, but often, he didn't really know what to do with them. A lifetime of learning how to suppress emotions had made him a bit of a stranger to them and he found them hard to label or explain.

He thought he'd gotten a pretty good hang on Love these last two years with Iruka and his Genin team had certainly taught him a great deal about Care. Those were rather straight-forward feelings and he could deal with them, one at the time. But what was happening inside him now was such a mess he just felt entangled every time he tried to get close to it.

There was the whole idea of Iruka's _girlfriend_, of course. He had known that Iruka'd had partners before him, and he himself had had others too, but that didn't stop it from being disturbing. Then there was the fear that Iruka would start caring more for his daughter than his boyfriend and that they would drift apart. Kakashi could already feel those strange ties of blood that bond Iruka and Suzume together, but excluded himself. Maybe Suzume would grow up to hate Kakashi, because he was not her mother, but just some pervert who lived with her father? Maybe she'd have a miserable childhood, because they didn't know how to take care of her? Or maybe it wouldn't even be 'they' who took care of her? Maybe it would only be Iruka. If he realised that Kakashi would be a lousy father he might want to protect his daughter and forbid him to have anything to do with her.

And on top of all this was the fact that Kakashi hated change. Even if he knew that, theoretically, change was good, it always made him feel uneasy. Moving in with Iruka had been okay, because it had happened gradually. He'd started spending more and more time in Iruka's apartment, so he'd had time to get used to it, to slowly move his possessions and routines to those new rooms, only slightly bigger than his own. And it had been something he'd been sure he wanted to do. Suzume, on the other hand, had been thrown at them without the slightest warning. Usually you had at least nine months to prepare for something like that, and here they were expected to just adapt and adopt overnight.

All of this seemed to overflow Kakashi's mind and in his strive to find a way to react, he'd pulled out the only emotions in the mess that he could put a name on: Jealousy and Anger.

Kakashi looked up. Without even realising it, his feet had lead him to the Konoha Memorial Stone. It had been quite a while since he was there last time. He used to go there every day, but lately it had been more and more seldom. Somehow, that was probably Iruka's doing. Looking absently at the carved names, he wondered how long he'd been standing there and if it was time to go meet his team yet.

Right, his team. Naruto must have told the others by now. Sasuke probably wouldn't care, but he could almost hear Sakura gladly talking about what a great father Iruka-sensei would be and Naruto loudly bragging about his new little sister.

Maybe he should just skip training today. But they would never forgive him and Naruto would keep nagging him forever. That would be even more troublesome than confronting them now. With one last look at the stone and Obito's name, he headed for the training grounds.

--

Iruka had hoped that if he just let Kakashi be for a couple of days, he'd get over his jealousy and stop acting like an obstinate six-year old. When a whole week had passed, however, he was forced to realise he'd been wrong. The Copy-nin was just as grumpy and irritable as ever and since he left early every morning and came home late, they spoke less and less to each other. Iruka spend almost all of his time with Suzume, who seemed to have adapted rather well to her new life. She talked more now, even if she was still shy, and she'd learned to sleep in her own bed, and sleep almost all night through.

He'd even found a babysitter for her. Old Hana, a former Academy sensei, had come visiting him as soon as she'd heard the news and offered to take care of Suzume while Iruka was at work. Hana had been at the Academy for ages, and when Iruka'd come as a new teacher, she'd taken him under her wing and trained him as her successor. She had been retired for a couple of years now, and since she found the life as a pensioner rather tedious and Suzume seemed to like her, it was a great deal for both of them.

If now only Kakashi would get a grip as well, everything would be fine.

--

The following Sunday, when Kakashi did not have his team as an excuse to leave the apartment in early morning, Iruka decided it was time to take action. He sat down opposite Kakashi, who was reading at the kitchen table.

The Copy-nin glanced up at his boyfriend and sighed. He had the We-Need-To-Talk face.

"Kakashi, we need to talk."

"Go on."

"Suzume is going to need a room of her own," Iruka began.

Kakashi flinched. _Suzume?_ Wasn't this going to be a talk about their relationship? Was _everything_ about Suzume these days?

"Is that so?" he said, managing to put a considerable amount of aggressiveness into the three, short words.

"Yes," answered Iruka sharply. "Unless you want her to keep sharing our bedroom?"

"She needs a room of her own."

"Exactly. But we only have one bedroom here. Which is why we need to move to a bigger place. I heard that the Murakami's were selling their house, so I'm going to take a look at it tomorrow."

"So we're going to move?" said Kakashi sceptically. "Just like that?"

"You don't have to, if you don't want to."

"I thought it sounded as if you'd already decided."

Iruka took a deep breath, looking as if he was steeling himself for something.

"I have decided that me and Suzume are moving. What I'm asking is if you're coming with us."

--

Kakashi stared incredulously at Iruka, looking like he didn't quite understand what his boyfriend had just said. Before he had time to think any closer, however, there was a knock on the door.

Without waiting for an answer Genma, Raidou, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai entered the apartment. Iruka groaned inwardly. Their timing could not have been worse.

"What are you doing here?" he sighed, burying his face in his hands and not even bothering to try and be polite.

"Genma and I just got back from a mission, and we heard the news, so we thought we'd come and congratulate happy parents," said Raidou cheerfully. "We found these on the way." He gestured towards the rest of the company, who were now squeezing themselves into the cramped kitchen.

"That's right," nodded Genma and slapped Kakashi, who didn't look remotely like a happy parent, in the back. "Who'd've thought you'd be a father, eh? Or maybe you're the mother?"

Kakashi gave him a death glare.

'_God, help me out of this,'_ Iruka thought as a pregnant silence fell. _'If you can make them all go away right now I, swear I'll shave my head and become a monk.'_

"So, let's go have a look at the little bugger, shall we?" said Raidou loudly. "Where is she?"

Iruka sighed and pointed towards the living room. It didn't look like he'd have to get rid of his pony tail quite yet, because the visitors now filed deeper into the apartment, cheerfully chatting amongst themselves. Iruka hurried after them to save his daughter from the terror of being suddenly surrounded by scary or insane looking strangers. Kakashi followed slowly and watched from the edge of the crowd as his boyfriend lifted up Suzume for general admiration.

There were a few minuet of 'Aw, what a sweetie' and 'She looks just like you', but since the supposed happy parents both seemed unable to speak, the embarrassing silence fell again. In an attempt to save the situation, Raidou turned to Genma.

"What do you say, shouldn't we get one of those as well?"

"No way in hell," said Genma bluntly.

His partner seemed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes with some difficulty.

"But she's cute, isn't she?"

"If you want something cute and cuddly I'll buy you a puppy."

"Genma, you're so insensitive," said Kurenai reproachfully. "Babies are nice, right darling?" she snuck her arm under Asuma's and looked demandingly at him. "And don't smoke indoors."

"Yes, they're… really nice," muttered Asuma rather unconvincingly and put away the cigarette he'd been fidgeting with, looking like he hoped Kurenai wasn't getting any funny ideas.

"Yeah, if you don't count the crying and the shitty diapers," agreed Genma. "Not to mention-"

"Suzume is too old to wear diapers," interrupted Raidou loudly.

"She is?" The senbon master looked surprised. "But she looks so small. Well, I guess that's kind of a good deal you made there, Iruka. Skipping out on the pregnancy and diapers and just getting the good parts; sex and kid."

"Genma," said his boyfriend warningly.

"What? It's true. Just too bad for Kakashi he missed the sex-part."

"I think it's best if you just shut up. Now."

"Sheesh, I'm just kidding. Kakashi doesn't mind, right?"

He slapped Kakashi in the back again. There was a 'poof' and the Copy-nin dissolved into smoke.

"What the-?" Genma stared at the now Kakashi-free space. "A shadow clone? When did he disappear?"

"About the same time as we entered the living room," said Gai calmly.

"Why didn't you say something?"

The other Jounin looked offended that Kakashi had managed to sneak off without any of them noticing.

"I'm sure my honoured rival had his reasons." Gai looked at Iruka, who sighed deeply and clutched Suzume a bit tighter in his arms.

"Kakashi hasn't been… very happy lately." He said, sounding more miserable than he'd intended to.

"We thought so, that's why we came by to _cheer him up_," said Raidou, glancing angrily at his lover. "We wanted to make him realise how _great_ it is to have children and how _lucky_ he is that gets to adopt Suzume."

"It's not _my_ fault he ran off," Genma defended himself. "Didn't you hear, he left almost as soon as we got here."

"But you didn't know that when you started blabbering about shitty diapers, did you?"

"The point is," said Kurenai loudly, interrupting their lovers' spat, "we failed."

"Now, what kind of negative attitude is that?" Gai protested. "It is not too late. I shall go and talk to him." He turned to Iruka, striking his best Nice Guy pose. "Leave this to me, Iruka-kun. You'll have your boyfriend back in no time."

Iruka stared somewhat doubtfully after the Green Beast of Konoha as he disappeared through the door. He wasn't quite sure that a pep-talk from Gai was what Kakashi needed right now.


	6. Chapter 6

"I thought I'd find you here."

Kakashi glanced at Gai who'd appeared beside him, facing the Memorial Stone. He should have sensed him coming, but he'd been too deep in thoughts. That was a bad sign.

"It's not like you to run away from a challenge like that," said Gai in a reprimanding voice. "I'm disappointed with you."

"It's none of your business," muttered Kakashi.

"But it is! What will happen to me if my rival starts giving up as soon as things don't work out the way he thought they would?"

"This is not one of your stupid challenges."

"No, you're right. It's way too easy for that."

Kakashi really didn't want to encourage Gai to keep talking, but before he could help himself he'd let slip a sceptic:

"Too easy?"

"Of course." His colleague nodded wisely. "Now that you have twice as much of Iruka-kun to love, it should be twice as easy. But that also means that you have twice as much to lose, so I suggest you double your efforts. Just treat the child like your beloved students and everything should be fine."

'_Iruka would kill me for sure if I treat her like my students,'_ thought Kakashi bleakly, but said nothing.

"Iruka-kun is a good man" continued the other man, and there was a rare edge of seriousness in his voice, "and he knows his obligations. He would never desert a child that needs him, even if that means giving up something he cares greatly for. So if you want to keep him, it's up to you. Kakashi." Gai solemnly put one hand on the Copy-nin's shoulder and spun him around so that they faced each other. "I want to see your and Iruka-kun's Youthful Love blossom again."

Kakashi stared at his rival's grave face.

"Go away."

Gai nodded.

"Yes, I shall leave you to your thoughts. It is almost time for my and Lee's evening run anyway."

And Kakashi was once again alone at the Memorial Stone.

Much as he hated it, he had to admit that somewhere Gai's rants made sense. Iruka knew his obligations, maybe a bit too well. He had a tendency of putting what he _had_ to do before what he _wanted_ to do, and often in a way that ignored his own wishes. He never seemed to have learned that one could do both.

Not that Kakashi thought for a second that Iruka only took care of Suzume because he had to. Even from the small amount of time he'd spent in their company it was easy to see that Iruka was very fond of the girl. Which was one of the things that bothered him so much.

'_But maybe,'_ said a small voice inside of him, _'maybe that doesn't have to mean there's no room for me.'_ But Iruka had never been very good at compromising.

'It's up to you', Gai had said. As if he'd listen to Gai on things like this.

Well, if he didn't go home now, Iruka probably _would_ move without him.

--

Kakashi peeked in through the living room window of his and Iruka's apartment, making sure to conceal his presence as much as possible. Iruka and Suzume were placed on the middle of the floor. The girl was lying on her stomach, busy with crayons and paper. Iruka was sitting cross legged with Kuma-chan in a tight grip and staring at nothing in particular with a rather worried look on his face. Shaking his head, he seemed to come out of his reverie and turned his attention to Suzume. "What are you drawing?" "Dog. Naruto-niisan's friend has a dog."

"Yes, you met Kiba-kun and Akamaru the other day, didn't you? Is that Akamaru?" Iruka pointed at one of the doodles on the paper.

"No," said Suzume in an insulted voice, "that's Naruto-niisan."

"Oh. Stupid me, I should have recognized the, um, whiskers."

"Frogs are slimy," said the girl thoughtfully. "Why doesn't niisan have a dog?"

"Maybe he thinks frogs are more useful," suggested Iruka. "You know," he added with a sad little smile, "Kakashi has many dogs."

Feeling strangely guilty, the Copy-nin withdrew from the window, leaning his back against the wall. Was he really going to have to take _Gai's_ advice on something like this? Life wasn't fair.

With a resigned sigh he bit his thumb and made a series of hand seals. There was a 'poof' a little dog appeared before him, raising its paw to greet its master. But before it could speak, Kakashi whispered "Be a good dog now" and shoved it in through the window.

--

"Iruka. Long time no see." Iruka looked surprised at the dog who'd just appeared before him. "Pakkun, where'd you…" his voice trailed away as he turned his gaze to the window, where Kakashi had just appeared on the sill. "What's this?" Pakkun sniffed carefully at Suzume, who stared wide-eyed at him. "Is it your pup, Iruka?" But the man had already stepped over him and hurried up to the window. "Kakashi, you're back." The Copy-nin raised his hand tentatively. "Yo."

"Look," Iruka begun anxiously, "what I said before, I didn't mean for it to come out so harsh and I never got the chance to finish. In fact, I think I started at the completely wrong end of the problem. What I meant was that I think you need to make up your mind. You can't keep avoiding Suzume forever. She's a part of my life now, whether you like it or not, and I really, really wish that she could be part of your life too.

I understand that it's difficult for you, I mean, _I _was shocked, so I can just imagine how you felt. But if you just talked to me I'm sure we could work this out. As it is now I don't even know if you're still jealous or if you're feeling neglected, but frankly it's kind of hard not to neglect you when you're never even at home. You're sleeping on the _sofa_, Kakashi."

Iruka cast him a pained look, making the Jounin avert his gaze.

"I'm sorry that I brought this on you, but if you are willing to give this a shot I promise I will do everything I can to make it as good, better, than we had it before. But if you don't want to, I mean, if you dislike Suzume that much… I don't want you to do anything that… you don't want to… but…"

Iruka's voice trailed away and Kakashi couldn't help but wondering where he got all those words from. And because he didn't really know what to say himself, he wrapped his arms around the man and pulled him into a hug.

"I don't dislike her that much," he muttered.

Feeling relief wash over him together with Kakashi's body heat, Iruka snuggled deeper into the embrace, as much as it was possible with the Copy-nin still crouching on the window sill.

"That's good."

"Hey!" Pakkun barked, reminding the two men of his and Suzume's presence. "None of that when there are pups in the room."

Kakashi let go of Iruka and jumped down from the window sill, aiming a friendly kick at the dog, who quickly jumped out of harm's way.

Suzume had gotten to her feet as well and was now tugging at her father's sleeve.

"Daddy, I'm hungry."

"Oh, I forgot," said Iruka guiltily, "it's way past dinner time, isn't it? But… well, if we… um…" his eyes flickered towards his lover, wordlessly wondering whether they should continue their talk.

"You go make dinner and I'll watch the pups," decided Kakashi.

"Okay." The teacher sounded slightly dubious. "It'll be ready in a minute, then."

As he disappeared into the kitchen Kakashi sat down on the sofa and looked at Suzume, who'd gone back to her drawing. He really didn't dislike the child herself. It was just that every time he looked at her he saw not the girl, but some faceless Toriko who'd slept with Iruka. Gai's stupid words about 'twice as much of him to love' came to his mind again. If he could just learn to look at her and see not Toriko, but Iruka, he was sure he could start to like her as well. It shouldn't be that difficult. She did, as everyone seemed so fond of pointing out, look exactly like him. But maybe there were ways to make it even easier.

--

When Iruka stepped into the living room to announce that dinner was ready, he found Pakkun gone, and Kakashi and Suzume engaged in another, though not quite as hostile, staring contest. But there was something different about the girl…

"Kakashi. What have you done to her hair?"

The Copy-nin looked up at him and then back at Suzume, whose brown locks were pulled back in a rather unprofessional imitation of her father's pony tail. He grinned apologetically and scratched the back of his head.

"I just wanted to see if she'd look more like you."

Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"You wanted to see if she'd look more like me?" he repeated.

His boyfriend nodded.

"She does… So, is dinner ready?"

"Yes…"

"Good." Kakashi got up and, to Iruka's amazement, he lifted up Suzume. It was awkward and looked more like he was holding a dog, but he did it.

The Chuunin just stared as he carried her past him and into the kitchen. After a moment Kakashi poked his head back into the living room.

"Are you coming, Iruka? The food will go cold."

Shaking his head disbelievingly, Iruka joined his little family at the table.

"So, are we going to look at that house tomorrow?" asked Kakashi as he served rice onto Suzume's plate.

Iruka shook his head again.

"Hatake Kakashi, you're not making any sense at all."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** This chapter was kind of delayed... I'm sorry about that. I promise I'll try to be faster with the next one. My goal is to have it done before I go to the Roskilde festival next weekend. Thanks a lot to everyone who's followed the story so far! Your comments are much appreciated:)

--

The Murakami's place proved perfect for the little Hatake-Umino family. It wasn't very big, but compared to their previous single bedroom and pathetic excuse for kitchen and living room, it was great. It even had a little garden where they would probably never have time to grow anything, but which was ideal for Suzume to play in.

Kakashi's dislike of changes had been outweighed by his wish for privacy and he found himself settling rather well in the new house. In the beginning he had often been halfway to their old apartment on his way home from missions, before realising it was the wrong direction, but after having lived in the house for a month, he'd started to learn.

Bit by bit he got to like his new life. There were actually some advantages with having Suzume in the house. This for instance: to sit at the kitchen table after dinner and watch Iruka trying to get his daughter to eat. It had become something of a new hobby to Kakashi; seeing the teacher trying to stay calm as he used all the methods he knew to make Suzume obey, while the girl used all her willpower to make it as difficult for him as possible.

It wasn't that she didn't want to eat because she was ill or anything, Iruka had explained to Kakashi one of the first times it'd happened, but sometimes kids were just like that. Obstinate for no reason. The Copy-nin found that a little weird, but highly entertaining.

"Suzume, please," Iruka said for the fifth time, "you have to eat your dinner."

"No."

"Just a little?"

"No!"

"Yes. Look, I'll help you." Iruka switched from begging to teacher's mode and scooped up some rice with the chopsticks and held it up in front of Suzume.

"No help!" The girl tried to take the sticks from her father, causing food to fly all over the table.

"Fine, do it yourself," Iruka snapped. "As long as you eat, I don't care how you do it."

"Don't want to!"

Father and daughter glared at each other with identical eyes. Kakashi watched them amused. So far Suzume was the undefeated master of staring contests and Iruka probably wouldn't stand a chance today either. Sure enough, the Chuunin averted his eyes and went back to the teacher's mode.

"Suzume if you don't eat now, you're just going to get hungry and start whining later, you know that. Now just take one bite, that's all I ask. One bite and then you're excused."

"No." The girl folded her arms stubbornly.

Her father sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Kakashi, help me."

The Copy-nin leaned across the table and smiled at his stepdaughter.

"Suzume, if you're a good girl and eat your food like daddy says, I'll let you play with Pakkun later."

The girl seemed to consider the offer.

"In the garden?"

"If you want to."

"Okay." With a face that suggested she knew she was being duped, but was still determined to maintain her dignity, Suzume grabbed the chopsticks and started eating.

Iruka turned to Kakashi.

"You knew all the time that would work, didn't you?"

The Jounin grinned.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say it earlier?"

"You didn't ask. Besides, you're the one who should know those tricks, she's your daughter."

_She's your daughter._ Kakashi kept saying that. He was always kind to Suzume, and they seemed to get along fairly well, but every now and then he made a casual remark like that, which gave Iruka the feeling that he was trying to distance himself from her. It was as if he still wasn't sure that he was really a part of the family and was reminding himself of it in order not to get too attached to the girl. Iruka did everything he could to prove the opposite, sometimes even forcing the two together, but even if they seemed to have a good time, Kakashi tended to act as if he was just borrowing the girl for a while.

Iruka wasn't sure if the Copy-nin did it on purpose or if it was some kind of subconscious defence mechanism, but either way he figured it'd be best to leave things as they were for the time being. With Kakashi it was better to use actions than words, so all he had to do was to keep proving that they were a family all three of them and that he would not desert his boyfriend for his daughter.

"Done!" the girl put down her chopsticks and looked expectantly at Kakashi. "Can I play with Pakkun now?"

"What do you say, Suzume?" reminded her father.

"Please, Kashi?"

"And?"

"Thanks for the food."

"Good girl."

Kakashi smiled and made the hand signs, pressing his palm against the most food free piece of table he could find.

"Not on the table," protested Iruka weekly, but it was too late.

Pakkun was already sitting between the plates and pots, scowling at his master.

"It'd better be for a mission this time, Kakashi."

"Sure," smiled the Copy-nin, "a VIP bodyguard mission. Now out in the garden and be a good dog."

Muttering something half-hearted about being a nindog and not a babysitter, Pakkun hopped down on the floor and followed the delighted Suzume out.

"Are you sure it's okay to have him babysitting all the time?" asked Iruka, concerned. "He seemed kind of irritated…"

"Nah, he likes her," Kakashi waved his hand dismissively. "He's just trying to act tough. Besides, you need a break every once in a while too. Actually, you have been looking kind of worn lately."

"Yes," Iruka admitted, "parenting is a lot tougher than I thought. And my students have all gone into the pre-summer-holidays no-concentration-whatsoever stage. It's impossible to get them to sit still for any more than fifteen minutes at the time." He got up and started collecting the plates, but Kakashi grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto his lap.

"Sounds tough. Maybe you'd need something to help you relax a bit."

"What are you planning now?" asked Iruka suspiciously.

"Why this mistrust?" said Kakashi defensively, wrapping his arms tighter around his boyfriend's waist and nuzzling the nape of his neck. "I'm just saying you might need to take a break."

"But you do have something planned, don't you?"

"Maybe. You don't work on Sunday and since I'm going on a long mission until Saturday I'll probably have that day off too. So I was thinking maybe we could use it for some You-and-Me time, since you're so worked out and all."

"And this is exclusively for my sake, I understand," said Iruka amused.

"Off course. You know I'm a very considerate and self-sacrificing boyfriend."

"But I think you're forgetting something. Suzume. I can't ask Hana to take her on Sunday too, she already takes care of her five days a week."

"Well," said Kakashi, "I have three Genin slaves, you know…"

"They're not your slaves, Kakashi, and I hope you're not suggesting we leave Suzume alone with Naruto and Sasuke."

"Off course not. Sakura'd be there too. She's responsible."

"She's twelve."

"Which is a perfectly good age for babysitting. It'd only be for a couple of hours. Come on, Iruka," Kakashi started kissing his neck seductively, "we haven't had any time alone for ages."

That was true and Iruka could feel it as much as Kakashi. Even if they had a bedroom of their own now there was no guarantee that Suzume wouldn't come sneaking in at night because she'd had a bad dream, needed to go to the bathroom or was thirsty. And after being used to be able to do what they wanted to, when and where they wanted to, as soon as they were both at home, that was quite frustrating at times.

"Do you really think they could handle that?"

"Sure they can," Kakashi mumbled, kissing his way towards Iruka's ear. "Sakura is very mature for her age. Suzume has met them. She knows Naruto well. They like her. It'll be fun."

"For them or for you?" muttered Iruka, feeling his resistance drain away.

"For all of us."

"Why do you have to be so persuasive?"

"Should I take that as a yes?"

"No… Maybe…"

--

Kakashi had had no idea that it could take so long for a three year old to do anything. Since it was supposed to be Iruka's day off, the Copy-nin had insisted on taking care of Suzume in the morning, so his boyfriend could have a nice sleep-in and get properly rested. Naturally, that part of the plan failed. Before Kakashi and Suzume had even started breakfast, Iruka was up and sitting by the kitchen table, watching their every move to make sure everything was done properly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked for the umpteenth time. "Have you asked Naruto and the others if it's okay?"

"They're really excited about it," assured Kakashi. "What do you want for breakfast, Suzume?"

"Cookies!"

"Okay."

"Kakashi, she can not have cookies for breakfast. Suzume, you know you can't have cookies for breakfast."

The Copy-nin stopped with the cookie jar halfway out of the cupboard, looking almost as disappointed as the girl.

"Why not?"

Iruka sighed and made to get out of the chair.

"Okay, I get it, I get it," said Kakashi hurriedly and put back the jar. "I'll make porridge, you sit down. We don't want you to get all worn out before I even get home."

--

Any plans that Kakashi had had about maybe being on time today were dashed by twenty minutes of Suzume insisting she could put on her shoes by herself and two turns back home to collect the forgotten lunch and Kuma-chan. When they set off for the third time, with all bags and teddy bears finally in place, they were over an hour late.

The Genin were used to their sensei's habit by now and sat, maybe not patiently, but waiting at the training grounds when he appeared in front of them with a casual 'Yo'.

"Kakashi-sensei, you're late!" yelled Naruto, probably more out of habit than because he'd expected anything else.

"A ninja is never late, Naruto," said Kakashi wisely. "Nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to."

His team looked sceptically at him.

"Wonderful day today, isn't it?" he grinned.

More sceptic staring.

"Anyway," continued the Jounin cheerfully. "I have a special mission for you today! And since you've all made such astounding progress lately, I think you'll be able to handle it without my help."

"Yay! A special mission!" Naruto cheered, but his team mates still looked suspicious. "What is it? What is it?"

"Hm…. Let's call it a VIP bodyguard mission. Here!" Kakashi gently pushed Suzume, who'd been lurking behind his legs with Kuma-chan in a tight grip, in front of him. "You all know Suzume-chan, don't you?" He crouched beside the little girl. "I'm going to leave you here with Naruto-niisan, Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan, okay?"

"No Pakkun?" asked the girl, a little disappointed.

"No, no Pakkun today." Kakashi ruffled her hair and stood up again. "But you have Naruto instead, so you'll be a good girl, won't you?"

Suzume nodded.

"Great. Iruka-sensei has made lunch for all of you, here." He shoved a bag into Sakura's arms. "You'll just have to play with her for a few hours and then I'll come and pick her up."

"But Kakashi-sensei, where are you going?"

"I'll be back here by five, then." The Jounin smiled at his students and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"But where are you going!?" Naruto shouted after him.

"I don't think we want to know that," muttered Sasuke.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" demanded the blond.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Sakura, immediately stepping in to defend her love. "It's Sunday today, so there's no school. I bet he's going to be with Iruka-sensei-"

"Don't say such things about Iruka-sensei!" yelled Naruto, firing up at once.

"I didn't say anything, you idiot!"

"But you were hinting!"

"Naruto, you moron!" Sakura hit him hard over the head. "It's just your perverted mind making things up!"

Frightened by the loudness and violence of the two Genin, Suzume took a few stumbling steps backwards and grabbed a hold of the first stabile thing she could find. Which happened to be Sasuke's leg.

The boy froze, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. At first he looked as if he was going to act like nothing had happened, but not even Uchiha Sasuke could ignore a three-year old clutching onto his shorts. He took a tiny step to the side, away from Suzume, but she just tightened her grip, determined not to let go of the one safe point she'd found in this otherwise chaotic group. Sasuke glanced down at her again, and then over at Sakura and Naruto, who were still fighting, oblivious to the crisis their comrade was in. A fascinating display of expressions started on his face as he tried to keep his cool demeanour while silently attempting to get the attention of his team mates. But as his wordless cries for help were lost in their shouting, the desperation became more and more visible in his eyes. At last he gave a rather pathetic-sounding little cough, which Sakura, who had some kind of sixth sense picking up on everything the Uchiha did, immediately responded to.

"What is it, Sasuke-ku-" She gasped, overwhelmed by the scene before her: Sasuke with his hands in his pockets, a both embarrassed and grumpy look on his face and a three-year-old with a teddy bear attached to his leg. "That is so cute!" She squealed. "Sasuke-kun, I didn't know you were so good with children!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He should have known she wouldn't be of any help. It wasn't even worth trying with Naruto: the fox boy was lying on the ground, laughing his head off.

"Ha ha ha! You looked so stupid, Sasuke! That silly look on you face! Ha ha ha!"

Naruto's mirth did not last for too long though; it soon became clear that Suzume had no intention of leaving Sasuke's side. This bothered both of the boys. One because he had no idea how to deal with such a small and vulnerable person, and absolutely no interest in learning it either. The other one because said person was supposed to be _his_ little sister and how come _all_ girls seemed to like that Sasuke-bastard anyway?

The girls, on the other hand, were very pleased with the situation. One because she'd found a person who was still and quiet and reminded a little of Kashi, and the other because she could allow her inner self to play Happy Family with her as the mother, Sasuke as father, Suzume as child and Naruto as some kind of pet, at the best.

--

They spent most of the day until lunch trying to figure out what to do, before deciding that they were hungry and it was time to eat. When not even the Uchiha Death Glare could stop Suzume from sitting right next to Sasuke, Sakura took the opportunity to sneak close as well, with the excuse that she had to help Suzume with the food. This left a rather grumpy Naruto alone on the other side of the picnic blanket, eating quietly for once and casting jealous looks at the "family".

"I got it!" he exclaimed suddenly, the anger replaced with triumph as he smacked his fist against his palm, accidentally mashing the rest of his rice ball. "Man, I am so awesome!"

"Naruto, can't you even keep your mouth shut during lunch?"

"Ah, but you're gonna like this, Sakura-chan!" the boy chuckled. "I've thought of a plan! It's the perfect punishment for Kakashi-sensei for running off like that."

--

Just for the fun of it, I made a manga-style character profile for Suzume:

**Name:** Yamashita-Umino Suzume  
**Birthday: **28th September  
**Star sign:** Libra  
**Blood type:** A  
**Likes:** Daddy, Kuma-chan, Kashi  
**Dislikes:** Frogs  
**Hobbies:** Drawing, playing with Pakkun, fairytales  
**Favourite food: **Cookies  
**Special skills:** Can out-stare anyone.

--

**End Notes:** While writing this I realised how difficult it is to write child speach in something that's not your native language. If I hear a child speaking english, I just think 'Wow, what a smart child who can speak english at that age', so I don't really listen to how it sounds. I guess that's why Suzume doesn't talk so much :S


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Once again, thanks to those who have been following this story! It's getting near the end, but we still have a few more chapters to go. And to those who were hoping to read what Kakashi and Iruka did on their day off; I'm sorry. I wanted to keep the rating and we all know that whatever they did it's bound to be NC-17. And also, I can't write smut:S

--

"Where is he?! It's already half past six!" Naruto jumped up from his sitting position on the grass and started pacing back and forth. "He said he's be back by five!"

"It's Kakashi-sensei," Sakura reminded him, "if he says five he means seven or eight."

"I know," whined Naruto, "but I really want to see if it works!"

"Shh, not so loud! You don't know when he'll show up."

"Oh, right." The blond lowered his voice and crouched in front of Suzume. "You remember what to do, right Suzume?"

The girl nodded. After some persuasion Naruto had managed to convince her to leave Sasuke's side to take an after-lunch nap on her big brother's lap, and the Uchiha had quickly retreated to lean against a tree a few safe yards away. But since Naruto was unable to sit still for as long as it takes for someone to nap, Suzume had soon switched to Sakura's lap and had spent most of the afternoon playing with Kuma-chan while the older girl braided her hair and her self proclaimed brother told boastful stories from his latest missions.

Another thirty minutes passed before a well-known, masked figure appeared before them with a very smug expression on the visible part of his face.

"Sorry, sorry, I got a bit delayed…"

"Kashi!" Suzume wiggled out of Sakura's arms and ran up to him.

"Hm?" The Copy-nin looked surprised down at the girl who was now standing in front of him with her arms held out and an expectant look in her big, brown eyes.

"Lift me, Kashi!" she smiled.

Still a bit puzzled, Kakashi did as told. There was a sudden tension among the three Genin as they tried to act normal, while carefully inching closer to see Naruto's Master Plan put into action.

Suzume made herself comfortable in her stepfather's grip, wrapping one arm around his neck. Then, before even the Jounin's refined reflexes could react, she'd raised her free hand and pulled down his mask.

"What the-?!" Kakashi quickly put the cloth back in place, but it was too late. His students had already caught a good glimpse of his surprised and nakedly visible face.

They let out a collective gasp. Then Naruto exploded.

"We did it! We saw Kakashi-sensei's face! Way to go, Suzume! Hahaha, we totally rock!" He started a little victory dance. "We saw Kakashi-sensei's face, we saw Kakashi-sensei's face!"

Kakashi gave him a one-eyed glare that had made many stronger and more intelligent shinobi tremble with fear, but the boy seemed unaffected.

"I take it this was your idea?"

"You bet! My brilliant plans always succeed!"

"Well, congratulations. Your brilliant plan just landed you two months of the most boring D-ranks I can find. I heard the mission reports from the latest decade needed to be re-filed."

"What?! Only D-ranks!?" Naruto looked upset for a moment, but then he shrugged. "Never mind, because WE SAW YOUR FACE!"

The Copy-nin frowned. He had expected a punishment like that would have a bigger effect on the team, but neither of Genin seemed bothered. Maybe he himself would be on the loosing end of this, having to listen to Naruto's complaints for two months. Well, never mind. He had more pressing matters to deal with now.

The main culprit was laughing happily in his arms as she watched Naruto, who was still dancing and chanting his 'we saw Kakashi-sensei's face'. The Copy-nin knew he ought to reprimand her, make her understand that this was not an accepted behaviour, contribute to her upbringing. But he was very bad at the yelling and punishing part of teaching. Iruka was so much better at that. And who could possibly be angry with those innocent, brown eyes?

"I'll talk to your father about you," he muttered.

"…We saw Kakashi-sensei's face! We saw Kakashi-sensei's face!…"

"Yeah, okay, so you saw it," snapped the Jounin. "Happy now?"

"But Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura. "It's just a normal face." She sounded almost disappointed.

"What did you expect, Quasimodo?"

The girl shrugged.

"Either that or that you'd be really hot."

"Well, thanks a lot, Sakura."

--

Iruka thought he did a pretty good job at keeping a straight face while Kakashi retold the story of his student's little prank. He listened patiently, scolded Suzume and promised to talk to Naruto. But all the time he knew that if _he'd_ had Kakashi as a teacher when _he_ was a Genin, he would have done the same thing. But he also knew that Kakashi would never forgive him if he laughed now.

It wasn't that the man was ashamed of his face. He had no reason to be; it was without disfigurations and a bit more handsome than average. But it had become a matter of pride and integrity. Not many people had seen it and _he_ decided himself who those lucky few were to be. He was the legendary Copy-nin of Konoha, _no one_ could see his face without dying a very painful death, unless he said so. Iruka could only imagine how it must feel for him to be outsmarted by a group of kids. So he suppressed the urge to run out and congratulate Naruto on the splendid plan and, after having fed Suzume and put her to bed, did his best to cheer his boyfriend up.

Which in this case meant shoving him up against the kitchen counter and kissing him breathless. It seemed to work rather well, so after a while Iruka, unable to control his curiosity, thought it safe to bring up the subject again.

"What did they say, now that they finally got to see it?"

Kakashi's pleased expression was quickly replaced by an insulted, sulking one.

"Well, Sakura informed me that it was 'just a normal face'. She'd hoped I'd be either hideously deformed or 'really hot'. Apparently I'm neither of it."

"I thought Sakura had good taste," said Iruka, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

One of the many drawbacks of concealing his face was that Kakashi had become very sensitive about what people said of it, if they got to see it. And he didn't even realise himself how vain he actually was.

"She doesn't think anyone who's not Sasuke is hot."

"Well, if it's any comfort for you, _I_ think you're a lot hotter than Sasuke."

Kakashi snorted.

"It'd be illegal if you didn't."

"Oh, come on," Iruka couldn't quite keep the smile away now, " do you really care about what Sakura thinks? Stop moping. We had a great day, didn't we?" He kissed the Copy-nin again. "Though, I'm not quite sure I feel completely relaxed yet. Maybe I'll need some more help…"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** This is the last chapter, folks! I'm sorry it took so long, but my inspiration was completely gone and I kept writing and rewriting so many times I finally ended up changing the story and making this the final chapter. Some time in the future I might write more on this, because I still have a few ideas, but for now, this is the end.

Thanks a lot to everyone who's followed this story! Your comments have been so inspiring and helpful:D

--

"Punishing Naruto with paperwork was a bad idea, Kakashi discovered. It took only one glance at the papers and the boy was bored to death. Now, that should have been a good thing, because it was a _punishment_, and punishments were _supposed_ to be boring.

But when Naruto got bored, he started complaining. Loudly. And then Sakura got annoyed and began to yell at him. Which irritated Sasuke and made him call them troublesome idiots or some other very imaginative insult. And then Naruto got pissed and asked him to say that again, if he dared. Which he did, of course. So then Naruto tried to hit him, causing the few papers they'd already managed to sort to fall to the floor. And then Sasuke tried to hit Naruto, and succeeded. So Naruto jumped him again, and they started wrestling.

Which had Kakashi wonder if their constant fighting was just an excuse for them to touch each other, and since he thought it'd be amusing, he asked them. Which made the boys stop fighting and, joined by Sakura, start shouting at Kakashi instead, making him wish he'd never opened his mouth.

So finally he dismissed them, under some vague threat that they'd better get some work done tomorrow, or else…

The Genin left quickly, before their teacher had time to change his mind, and Kakashi was left behind, with a completely empty day in front of him and no plans whatsoever. Going home to read sounded like a good idea. And maybe he'd take the way past the Academy to see how Iruka was doing.

--

It was the middle of the day, and all the students were inside the classrooms, trying to fill their brains with knowledge. The schoolyard was empty, apart from a little girl. She was squatting in front of a puddle, swirling the water around with a stick. Completely absorbed by the game, she did not notice the three boys who entered the yard, until one of them said in a loud voice:

"Isn't that Iruka-sensei's kid?"

She looked up, squinting against the sun. Silhouetted by the bright light were three dark shapes, much bigger than herself. She squeezed her stick a little tighter.

The boys stopped in front of her.

"My mom says she's a bastard," said one of them.

The others sniggered approvingly. It wasn't that they were cruel-hearted by nature, or that they had any personal grudge against Iruka-sensei and his alleged bastard. They were just three of the many orphaned or part-orphaned children who filled Konoha, like every other ninja village. And now they were bored and looking for somewhere to let out just a little of their pent-up killer instincts.

"Is that true?" the first one asked the girl. "Are you a bastard?"

Not knowing what the word meant, she remained silent.

"Hey, I'm talking to you." He took a step closer. "Didn't your mom teach you to answer when someone asks you a question?"

"And didn't your mom teach you not to pick on those who are smaller?"

The voice made the three boys spin around, their eyes widening as they landed on the single most frightening sight of their lives. A man was towering over them, dressed in ninja gear and with most of his face covered by an ominous-looking mask and his slanted hitai-ate. His one visible eye glared daggers at them.

"If I were you, I'd run for it," he suggested calmly.

As one man, the boys did as they were told.

--

"The best way to grasp this technique is to remember the five keywords. Now everybody make sure they write this down. The first-"

Iruka cut himself off as the door of the classroom burst open and Kakashi stormed in with Suzume in his arms.

"Kakashi? What happened?!" Iruka took a few steps towards them, his eyes searching for blood or injuries. But they both looked unharmed, and while the Copy-nin was practically fuming, Suzume seemed mostly amused as she looked out over the classroom and waved to her father.

"What happened?" Kakashi sneered. "As a responsible father you should know that."

"What?"

"How could you leave Suzume all by herself out there?"

"I was keeping an eye on her through the window…" Iruka defended himself weakly.

"Then you should have seen that those punks were bullying her! Why isn't she with Hana-san anyway?"

"Hana-san has got a cold, but what do you mean they were bullying her? Who did?"

"Some punks." The Jounin shifted his grip of the girl, holding her more tightly. "But I made sure they'll never attack our girl again."

"Kakashi, what did you do to them?" asked Iruka worriedly.

"I gave them a good fright. But you should know better than to leave her alone like that. What if she…."

Kakashi rambled on, but as Iruka's min struggled to grasp the situation, one thing surfaced. _'Our girl'_, he'd said. Kakashi had called Suzume _our_ girl. It was the first time he'd said anything like that and despite the news of his daughter being harassed by 'some punks', Iruka couldn't help but feeling a little hopeful. 'Our girl' was definitely a step in the right direction.

"Hey!" Kakashi snapped his fingers in front of Iruka's face. "Stop spacing out, you're being scolded here!"

"Oh. Sorry."

Kakashi frowned.

"I'm taking her home now. We can talk about this later."

"Er…okay," said Iruka meekly, still trying to figure out exactly what it was that had happened as he went to close the door after his boyfriend.

He was brought back to reality by an outbreak of giggling from his until then forgotten students.

"Right," he said, shaking his head. "Back to the subject, then. The five keywords:"

As he turned around to write on the blackboard, he couldn't quite hold back a small smile. It went slowly, but step by step they were all adapting to their new life and one day, hopefully, they would become a happy, reasonably normal family.


	10. Chapter 10 Bonus Story

**A/N:** This is one fo the first things I wrote for this fic, but I never got the chance to fit it into the story. But since it's one of my favourite parts I really wanted to post it, so here it is, as some sort of bonus story. It's a fairytale that Kakashi tells Suzume.

--

"Once upon a time, in the Land Hidden Deep Beneath the Waves, there lived a little dolphin. The dolphin's parents were both dead, so he lived with his…um…evil aunt and two cousins. The aunt, who was actually a giant sea slug, was very mean to the dolphin and forced him to do all the cooking and cleaning and washing, while the cousins could just sit and eat chocolate and look at themselves in the mirror all day.

One day the prince of the Land Beneath the Waves was going to have a party, because it was his birthday. It was one of those boring parties where you have to wear itchy clothes and talk to uninteresting people, but everyone in the kingdom was going there, and the dolphin wanted to go to, but his aunt wouldn't let him."

"Why not?" asked Suzume, sounding insulted on behalf of the dolphin.

"Because she was a bit- I mean," Kakashi added hastily after a dark glare from Iruka, "she liked to see the little dolphin suffer. And the dolphin got very sad and sat in his room and cried all day, while his cousins were making themselves ready for the party. But luckily for the dolphin, his Fairy Godmother heard his crying and decided to help him.

So the Godmother went out in their garden, and do you know what she found there?"

"A pumpkin?" suggested Suzume.

"No, a scarecrow."

"With a pumpkin for its head," added Iruka diplomatically.

"But why did they have a scarecrow under water?" asked the girl and her father couldn't help but wondering why she reacted to that precise lapse of logic in a world otherwise inhabited by giant sea slugs and fairy godmothers.

"To keep away the flying fish, of course.

So, the Fairy Godmother cast a spell over the scarecrow and made him come alive. And he was a very good-looking scarecrow, mind you. So now the dolphin and the scarecrow could go to the party together, and everyone, even the cousins, were really jealous at the dolphin, because he had the hottest date of them all. And the scarecrow danced all night with the dolphin, and at midnight he took him home to his field where they, um…"

"Lived happily ever after?" suggested Iruka.

"That too," agreed Kakashi. "Happily ever after."


End file.
